How to protect UV cured clearcoats from light degradation

SpecialChem
/
Sep 28, 2005

Until recently, uv cured exterior coatings have not made a huge impact on a commercial basis. The current market status is as follows:
* Total market still only around 5% for industrial applications
* Slow penetration into exterior coatings - small parts only
* Some use in exterior metal coatings and in outdoor architectural building panels
* Not found widespread practical use for automotive coatings.
However, coating and equipment companies have continued to innovate and there are positive signs that some of the serious technical drawbacks with uv curing for exterior coatings are being overcome. Carbon dioxide immersion of the object to be coated overcomes the surface cure inhibition by oxygen. Dual cure systems allow for the "shadow" areas of 3D objects to be cured through dark cure processes. Software advances have allowed the equipment manufacture to optimise the equipment set-up.
There still remains the question:
Do uv cured clear coats have sufficient durability (weathering stability) to be able to compete with the conventional thermally cured clear coats used today?